Whiteheads Graig U14 – 4

Rhinos Blacks U14 – 6

THE Rhinos Blacks match against Whiteheads Graig was an archetypal game of two halves and a brilliant advert for junior grassroots football.

Playing on a relatively compact pitch within the sprawling grounds of Tredegar Park, Whiteheads set about the Rhinos quickly with long punts out to the wings for their speedy, athletic wingers to attack. This paid off quickly as they went 2-0 up in ten minutes.

The Rhinos were up against it and struggled to get their passing game going early on. Although chances were still being created, with Jojo Evans being very influential down the left wing, guiding numerous crosses into the danger area, but the Rhino attack just couldn’t make that break through.

With 30 minutes played another direct ball from the Whiteheads defence, caught the Rhinos off guard, with the nippy striker making the most of a defensive mix-up to tap in a simple goal.

This was new territory for the beleaguered Rhinos, as they trudged off 3-0 down for a half time slice of orange and a well-intentioned ear-bashing from the coach.

And with the team talk still ringing in their ears, they marched back on the field, knowing they had to score early to stand any chance of getting back into the game.

They did that with a majestic long range strike from just outside the box by Josh Salway-Stevens, who went on to have a brilliant second half, snapping into tackles and breaking up play, then playing simple balls out to Mason Brice who was starting to terrorise the Whiteheads left back. With the Rhino defence now comfortably containing the dangerous left winger, it allowed the midfield and forwards to dominate possession. The second goal came from Brice, straight in from his perfectly taken corner, and then another stunning strike from outside of the box by Logan Williams provided the equaliser.

The next goal had the potential to decide the match, but totally against the run of play Whiteheads took the lead, again through some indecisive defending.

But the Rhino heads did not drop and they quickly equalised again with Brice netting his second. The goals did not stop there, with the Brice/Jack Williams combination working brilliantly, continually slicing through the Whitehead defence, with Brice slotting home another two perfectly taken goals to end the game 6-4 to the Rhinos!

The Rhinos are on the road again next week as they travel to the last of the four Newport teams, Villa Dino, looking for a fourth consecutive win.